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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

I know this is very late and I am only just catching up with this thread, but as I've seen this asked a few times: according to the Piano Adventures site, the follow up to Adult Piano Adventures Book 2 is Piano Adventures 3A in the main series. I think their catalog is available as a pdf on their website homepage and it has a flowchart of how things are supposed to progress according to them.

Glad to find this thread - it is interesting that the Alfred course threads on pianoworld are so much busier than the Faber & Faber thread even though it seems PA is preferred over Alfreds by a lot of teachers. Maybe Alfred's is better known amongst adults while PA is better known for kids. But luckily my teacher was fine with me using Adult PA as I want my 5 year old to learn from PA (the kids version) as well.

I am 45 and acquired a 1916 Henry F Miller upright off craigslist for free (except for the moving!) a couple of months ago and cleaned it up, fixed some of the regulation myself (I am somewhat handy and bought the tools I needed), replaced some of the felts and adjusted some of the hammers/dampers that were off kilter and fixed stuck keys etc. Finally got a piano tuner to tune it (and teach me to maintain it so I can keep it in tune between professional tunings - he did say the piano is quite nice and doesn't have any problems except age) and started futzing around until I decided I really should just get a teacher.

After some research, I decided I wanted to learn from PA and so looked for a teacher who was familiar with it and was lucky enough to find a young guy who just finished his master's in piano performance and was tutoring my niece for SAT prep!

My goal is to be able to pick up any piece of piano repertoire and be able to sight read and play it well enough to be recognizable, and to be enjoyable for both me and any listeners - basically the same as what I can do on guitar. The goal is not to perfect every piece in Adult PA, but rather to learn what there is to learn in each piece and move on. We've been going through Adult PA 1, and I am up to Shepherd's Song and the Rameau minuet. The idea is that I want to get through the two adult books and then just work on pieces in the repertoire though I will most probably continue working in the method anyway to give some sort of direction.

Given that the goal is to be able to sight read really well, I am also working on sight reading separately using "Sightreading and Rhythm Everyday" by Helen Marlais, Kevin Olson. I also print out pieces from impls.org and use them as sight reading practice though most are still too far above where I am. I also have some of the supplementary Faber and Faber stuff like their sight reading book and gold star performance book to keep me practicing sight reading.

I recently read "Guided Sight-Reading" by Leonard Deutsch (http://www.scribd.com/doc/38451545/Piano-Guided-Sight-Reading-by-Leonhard-Deutsch-1950) that I found very interesting (I found a pdf online), as it talks about how teaching piano seems to be mostly about memorizing rather than learning to sight-read and that most people sight-read about 2 levels below their playing and therefore people are missing out because the pieces being practiced during this period aren't very interesting (though PA does have slightly better music than I thought it would). I noticed this myself, it is a lot more painful to me to have to learn things measure by measure because my sight-reading hasn't kept up yet to what I can put into my muscle/musical memory so I am working on this now so that I can sight-read anything at the same level as I can play . . . we shall see how that goes! The books also talks about a style of teaching where the student and teacher sight-read everything together, the teacher playing higher on the keyboard and the student basically playing along, learning "on-the-fly" while sight-reading. I have found that I do better when my teacher plays with me, because then I can see exactly what he is doing, how it is supposed to sound and can try to imitate his motions directly with instant feedback when it doesn't sound similar. We shall see if this makes things easier over the next few weeks!

I'm using Adult Piano Adventures...just started it 3 weeks ago with a teacher who gives 1hr lessons at my house. I also use the Children's Piano Adventures. She has me practice from both books, but primarily the adult book is the one we use.

You are far more advanced than I am at this time. I'm in level one books.

_________________________
Virginia

"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." J.Wooden

I think it means "a little louder" than 'p' and getting louder (cresc.). At least, that is what I think - but you may want to ask this in a more generic post rather than within the Faber&Faber thread as many of the teachers or advanced ABF players may not be reading this thread!

The sight-reading is going well, thanks. I do all playing via sight-reading and very little memorization though I can't help memorizing the easy pieces in F&F Adult Book 1 after a few tries so I am also doing the exercises in "Sight-Reading and Rhythm Everyday" everyday. I can't wait to get through the two F&F Adult books so that I can start to tackle real repertoire . . . I figure that the RCM syllabus has F&F upto Book 2B in their "preparatory A and B" levels but then they go to repertoire so I will do the same!

Question again... at the beginning of this page, how to play the note with an accent mark AND a "p"? I thought accent mark means louder... how can a louder sign and a soft sign go together?!

It means, relative to an overall p dynamic, accent those notes. So yes, they'll sound a bit louder than your basic p might sound. They're not getting specifically louder (each louder than the previous one), though, until the crescendo sign at m. 13. [The preceding sentence is wrong: correction in a following post. Thanks, atinm!] Then, within the general idea of getting louder, you continue accenting the first beat of each measure. So for example in m.14 D# is actually slightly louder than F#.

If you listen to excellent pianists, there are always subtle variations of dynamics going on, even if they're playing within one dynamic marking. They are experts at having a myriad of ways to touch and sound a note.

Thanks PianoStudent88 - I wasn't sure if I was actually correct about the louder part though now I have to ask my teacher what the cresc. and dim. mean in measures 9-12 if it doesn't mean going up and down!

Oh oh oh! I apologize, my big mistake! I missed the cresc. and dim. words in mm. 9 and 11. You're absolutely right: getting louder from mm.9-11, getting softer from the end of m.11 through m. 12, and then getting louder again, this time notated with the hairpin symbol instead of the cresc. word.

Another thought: accenting might not be synonymous solely with playing louder. For example, what articulation makes sense for these notes: legato? Staccato? Something in between? In between but closer to staccato, or to legato? And/or you could play with how you leave the key -- how the dampers come back to the string. Do you want the dampers to come down gently or abruptly? This also affects the sound. (I don't have good conscious control of this level of sophistication in my playing, but I've read about it, and wonder if the key for me (no pun intended ) will be not in thinking about dampers, but in paying attention to how I'm touching the keys and how I'm using all parts of my body, from legs to fingertips.)

As the OP is farther ahead than me, he might be able to do some of the more sophisticated touches you are writing about. Me - I'm on Adult Book 1 and mostly happy when I can find the keys and keep time after a few tries!

Thanks， PianoStudent88 and atinm! I was going to ask the question on Faber's website, but my registration didn't get approved until last night. and now I've got the perfect answer from both of you, thank you!

I don't have good conscious control of this level of sophistication in my playing

I've listened to some of your pieces in the quarterly recitals. Your playings sound really nice to my ears.

Last weekend, one of my friends sent me her son's recent recording, I really love the dynamics in the video. The other friend's son is with the same teacher. So I can see the same dynamics pattern in both boys...

Just as what you said,

Originally Posted By: PianoStudent88

If you listen to excellent pianists, there are always subtle variations of dynamics going on, even if they're playing within one dynamic marking. They are experts at having a myriad of ways to touch and sound a note.

These 2 boys are not excellent pianists yet, but their teacher is, he used to play Chopin and that's how he teaches his student...

Brisk speed -- though if you are happily bopping your body with the music, no one should complain unless it makes your playing suffer. In fact, many writers on piano technique (like Abby Whiteside) expect your body to be involved when playing.

Hello all! Just started in the Faber and Faber Adult PA Book 1 as well as lessons with an instructor last night. My instructor is ordering a Christmas Book with a few songs that I should be able to play by Christmas. So I'm gonna spend some time this weekend reading and practicing.

After one lesson, I'm up to p.19/Unit 1. Trying to get both hands in sync to finish Ode To Joy! I'm practicing one line at a time. The book wants me to play the last 4 measures with both hands. I can play the last 4 measures with both hands slowly. But missing notes when I try to speed up. Any suggestions?

If I recall correctly, both hands are playing the same notes, an octave (or two) apart. Just slow it down completely and think where you are putting your two fingers for each note. Keep it slow until it feels natural to you and you will be able to increase your speed and accuracy. In fact, by tomorrow or the next day you will probably wonder why you thought it was difficult.

Completed Unit 1 in the F & F Piano Adult Book. It went pretty fast and I was able to understand, practice and play without any issues. It's exciting to learn new things and when I made mistakes I kept going until I corrected them. Onward!!!

Becca I didn't celebrate. But when I finish Unit 2, I will! I'm near finished with Unit 2 in Faber and Faber 1. I'm trying to play the Russian Folk Song. I almost got it. I'm gonna try to complete it tonight. Taking a 15 min break. Hope every one doing well!